The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football League (NFL) in 1922), from 1920 to 1923, and again from 1925 to 1926. The Bulldogs won the 1916, 1917, and 1919 Ohio League championships. They were the NFL champions in 1922 and 1923. In 1921–1923, the Bulldogs played 25 straight games without a defeat (including 3 ties). This remains an NFL record.
As a result of the Bulldogs' early success, along with the league being founded in the city, the Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton. Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox), the Olympian and renowned all-around athlete, was Canton's most-recognized player in the pre-NFL era.
In 1924, Sam Deutsch, the owner of the NFL's Cleveland Indians, bought the Canton Bulldogs. He took the Bulldogs name and its players to Cleveland and named his franchise the Cleveland Bulldogs. He offered to sell the Canton franchise back to the city of Canton to play in the 1924 season; however, there were no buyers interested in the team. He "mothballed" the Canton club. The Canton Bulldogs were re-established in 1925, and the NFL considers the 1925 to 1926 Canton Bulldogs to be the same team as the 1920 to 1923 incarnation.
An unrelated "Canton Bulldogs" team played in the United Football League in 1964. This team's name was coincidental, as it had moved from Cleveland and kept its original nickname. That team moved to Philadelphia, where it became the "Philadelphia Bulldogs." All in all, this version of the Cleveland-Canton-Philadelphia Bulldogs played from 1961 to 1966, its last two years in Philadelphia as a member of the Continental Football League. Another "Canton Bulldogs" team was slated to begin play in the Stars Football League in 2012, although that team was never organized. The Bulldogs name is also in use at Canton McKinley High School.
History
Origin
Prior to the debut of professional football in the city, an amateur team from Canton was mentioned as being a superior team in Stark County, Ohio. Until about 1902, this team competed with the Akron East Ends for the Ohio Independent Championship. When the Massillon Tigers arrived on the scene and went professional, Canton, as an amateur team, was no longer competitive. The Canton Bulldogs were officially established on November 15, 1904, as the Canton Athletic Club, a club designed to operate baseball and football teams. The statement stated that the football team was to be a "professional organization," complete with a "professional coach."
Blondy Wallace era
The team was given the goal of beating the rival Massillon Tigers, who had won the Ohio League championship in 1903 and 1904. To do this, Canton went out and offered money to the best players on all the other Ohio League teams. Bill Laub, a player, team captain, and coach of the Akron East Ends, was hired as the team's first-ever coach.
The team began its 1905 season with a 7–0 record. The Bulldogs then traveled to Latrobe, Pennsylvania to play the Latrobe Athletic Association, led by quarterback John Brallier. Latrobe was not only the current Pennsylvania champions but had gone undefeated for the last three seasons. Latrobe was also considered the only pro team capable of competing with Canton and Massillon. Canton would go on to lose its 1905 game to Latrobe, 6–0. However, the worst part of the loss came when coach Bill Laub became injured and was unable to finish the season. Blondy Wallace, a former All-American for the Penn Quakers, was then named as Laub's successor and team captain. Two weeks later, the team would lose the Ohio League championship game to the Massillon Tigers, 14–4.
Sometime during the 1906 season, the Canton team became known as the "Bulldogs" although no one is quite sure how it came to be affixed to the Canton team. It wasn't called that in 1905, nor through most of the 1906 season. As late as November 4, R.C. Johnson, an editorial cartoonist with the Canton Repository, was only able to picture the Canton team as only a man with a club lying in wait for the Massillon Tiger. Most references to the team called it "Canton A.C.," "C.A.C.," "Canton eleven." "The Red and White" or "Wallace's Men." Suddenly, almost overnight, the team became the "Bulldogs", with a November 14, 1906 cartoon showing the Canton Bulldog facing off against the Massillon Tiger.
